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"^ ^ HE End of the Rainbow 



BY 
JAMES PLAISTED WEBBER 



THE END OF THE RAINBOW 

A Fantasy in Miniature 

BY 

JAMES PLAISTED WEBBER 




BOSTON 

WALTER BAKER & CO. 

1922 



-p5'2> 



s/v^ 






COPYRIGHT, 1922 

BY 

JAMES PLAISTED WEBBER 

Amateurs may produce this play with- 
out fee, but permission must be asked 
of the author, addressed in care of the 
publishers. All professional rights 
are reserved. 



M 30 1922 

(5)CIAe77372 



s 



TO 
ELIZABETH LEAVITT 

Upon our Garret Theatre stage 
While you portray sweet Pierrette, 

You make a poem of my page, 

Upon our Garret Theatre stage, 

Till Pierrot his pilgrimage 

For rainbow gold may well forget 

Upon our Garret Theatre stage 
While you portray sweet Pierrette ! 



NOTE 
Excerpts from Mendelssohn's music 
for A Midsummer Night's Dream may 
be introduced in this play. A portion 
of the overture might precede the 
rising of the curtain. At the entrance 
of Will o' the Wisp, the first twenty 
or thirty measures might be repeated, 
or some other extract from the work 
be inserted. Opportunity also occurs 
at this point for a fancy dance, either 
by Will o' the Wisp alone or accom- 
panied by several elves or other crea- 
tures from faery land. After Will o' 
the Wisp's exit, during Pierrette's 
sleep, might be played the Notturno 
which Mendelssohn wrote to follow 
the Third Act of Shakespeare's 
comedy, and at the closing curtain, 
either the last five, or the last four- 
teen and one-half measures, of the 
overture. Amateurs producing the 
play in little theatres could resort 
to orchestral records issued by the 
Victor Company. 



THE END OF 
THE RAINBOW 



CHARACTERS 

Pierrot 

Pierrette 

Will o' the Wisp 



THE EiND OF THE RAINBOW 

A Fantasy in Miniature 

Scene: A Wild Wood. 
Time: An Ap ril Even mg. 

(Enter Pierrot and Pierrette, the latter very weary of 
Journeying through the forest.) 

PIERRETTE 

^ dear Pierrot, 
J Twas hours ago 
The sunshiny showerlet passed; 
The rainbow has faded, 
The wild wood is shaded. 
And the young April moon overcast. 

PIERROT 

Pin your faith to the fable: 
Don't you know, were one able 

3 




To find where the rainbow comes down, 
One would Hght on more gold 
Than one's coffers could hold, 

Enough for to buy London town? 

PIERRETTE 

Yes and no, Pierrot; 

But no further let's go 
Through this forest so darksomely eerie: 

For I very much fear 

That you, too, my dear, 
Are as footsore as I am, and weary. 

PIERROT 

Ha' done, Pierrette! 

It may be far yet 
I must journey through dark and through cold; 

But later or soon, 

'Neath the light o' the moon, 
I shall find me the great pot of gold. 

PIERRETTE 

O, once 'twas my love, 
That, by heaven above. 
You swore was your heart's sole desire: 

4 



And were I but won, 

There'd be naught 'neath the sun 
As dear as myself by your fire. 

And then, it was fame: 

To have noised your name 
On the tongue of young and of old; 

But when cottage and hall, 

All flocked at your call. 
You then longed for nothing but gold. 

PIERROT 

What you say may be true, 
But, Pierrette, 't is to you 

I should look for my comfort and hope: 
And when gaining my end, 
You're a pretty poor friend 

To do nothing but grumble and mope. 

{Pierrette has sunk on the ground in a sad little heap 
and is crying softly^ 

PIERROT 

Well, sit there and cry! 
If you live or you die, 
I'll keep up my search till the last; 



And I think some fine morrow, 

You'll see to your sorrow, 
What you lost by not holding fast. 

For in coach and with four, 

I shall roll past your door, 
While the world and his wife smile on me; 

But the poor Pierrette, 

Like a grizzled grisette, 
I never, no never, will see! 

PIERRETTE 

Pierrot, if I could, 

I'd still trudge the wood, 
But I'm only a burden, you say. 

God grant that the treasure 

You find in full measure 
Or ever the first peep o' day! 

PIERROT 

(^Snapping his Ji?igers.) 

Tush! that for your flow 
Of fine words! 

{Pierrot quite ruthlessly leaves her.) 

6 



PIERRETTE 

Pierrot, 

Farewell! You've grown heartless of late 
So now in the cold, 
I lie down on the mold, 

And give myself up to my fate. 

(As Pierrette is about to lie dow7t, a shaft oj 
moonlight strikes through the green wood.) 

But alack! there's the moon, 

And they say, late or soon, 
Who sleeps in the bright light of it, 

Will find that his head 

Has been turned, and from bed 
The dreamer'll arise without wit. 

Then I take me this bough. 

To cover me now. 
And so, if I live or I die, 

They'll not say, " How sad! 

But the poor maid went mad — 
And that made her Pierrot fly." 

{Ere she lies dow?t, Pierrette offers this prayer to 
Our Lady. ) 

Our Lady, I pray. 
To Pierrot on his way 



Give guidance forever and ever: 
And grant some day he 
May come back to me 

To leave me, ah, never, no never! 

(As Fierrette drops off to sleeps a faery micsic is heard, 
and Will <?' the Wisp with his lanthorn, enters, 
addressing, first, the audience, and later, Pierrette.^ 

WILL O' THE WISP 

Dear friends, let me lisp, 

I'm Will o' the Wisp. 
I glide o'er the marsh and the fen. 

I lead wildest fancies 

On merry, mad dances, 
And often I lead foolish men. 

So, sweet Pierrette, 

Fear not you, nor fret: 
E'en now, your false Pierrot 

Wanders round in a ring 

That shortly will bring 
His steps to your bedside, I know. 

{There is a moment of darkness to suggest a lapse of 
time, during which the faery music is resumed. 
As the light returns, Pierrot re-enters^ 

8 



PIERROT 

{He calls?) 

Pierrette! Pierrette! 

How you plagued me! and yet 
I'm tired and lonely and blue. 

I verily think, 

Though just on the brink 
Of high fortune, I want only you. 

Yes, I vow by my soul, 

Just in reach of my goal, 
I've learned since I left her this while 

That there's nothing to me 

By land or by sea 
That's worthy compare with her smile. 

{Pierrot suddenly ?iotes where the moonlight falls on 
Pierrette^s hair, gleaming through the bough 
which she has laid over her head.) 

But stay! what is here? 

By all that is dear, 
I swear there's the gleam of my gold. 

Beneath yonder bough 

Is awaiting me now 
My treasure to have and to hold. 



But, alas! — vain regret — 

Could I find Pierrette, 
I'd toss it away down the wind. 

Yea, though the moon gleams 

On the world's wealth, it seems 
I'm minded to leave it behind. 

PIERRETTE 

(^She murmurs in her sleep.) 

O dear Pierrot! 
PIERROT 

( Unable to locate the voice.) 

'Tis her voice! — I know. 
O speak to me once and again! 

Pierrette, tell me where 

In earth or in air 
You are, or I die in my pain. 

PIERRETTE 

(^Stzll sleeping.) 
Pierrot! Pierrot! 

lO 



PIERROT 

Where is she? Why lo! 
'Tis she that lies 'neath yonder bough! 

And her dear golden hair, 

'Twas that, I will swear, 
I took for my treasure e'en now. 

PIERRETTE 

{Awaki7ig^ 
Ah, Pierrot, dear — 

PIERROT 

{Kneeling behind her and supposing her.) 
Sweet child, never fear! 

PIERRETTE 

Have you found 't, Pierrot? Tell me true. 

PIERROT 

Pierrette, do you care? 

PIERRETTE 

Not I, how /fare, 
But only what's fortuned to you. 

II 



PIERROT 

Then hark, sweetest child, 
Though I've long been beguiled, 

It's never too late, dear, to mend; 
And I've found, for my part, 
That your own loving heart 

Is my wealth at the true rainbow's end! 

{Pierrette looks up ifito Pierrofs face with a smile of 
unutterable happt7iess and the?i) — 

The Curtain Falls. 




